Smart policing need of the hour: Minister

Hyderabad, June 21: Minister of State for Home Affairs Hansraj Gangaram Ahir on Thursday said there is a need for smart policing and to expand the fingerprint database of prisoners as criminals are increasingly using technology. Speaking at the 19th All India Conference of Directors of Finger Print Bureaux here, Ahir said the Identification of Prisoners Act, 1920 need to be amended to provide legal authority for taking finger impressions, photographs and measurements of arrested persons. Stressing on the need to modernise the police force, he said smart policing is the need of the hour at a time when criminals have access to technology and are using it to commit crimes. Use of technology by criminals is posing a new challenge to the police force, he added.

If the police force works to bring down the crime rate and ensure criminals are punished, fewer people would resort to committing crimes, Ahir said at the two-day conference to deliberate on finger print identification systems and modernization of state finger print bureaux.(IANS)